[Mono-list] some questions?

[Adam Treat]

Hello everyone,

I have been monitoring the list discussion for awhile
now trying to get a feel for Mono and dotGNU. I am a
Java/Linux Developer who no longer has any windows
partitions and is not interested in any new ones.

I love Java and fearful that my preferred platform
might be going the way of the dodo I decided to check
out this .NET thing and decide for myself exactly
where this was going.

I am happy to find that csharp might as well be java
for many practical purposes. The syntax is so similar,
I believe some simple programs could be written to
compile in java or csharp. Of course there are many
other good aspects of java and I wonder if there will
be counterparts in the .Net or Mono environment such
as the javadoc or jar tools.

A few questions now:

1. Suppose I were to write a compiler for java that
generates CIL bytecodes. Would I be able to use the
Mono libraries? The libraries are written in csharp
which would seem to preclude there use in java... but
isn't that the whole idea behind a common language
runtime? What magic is this?

2. I take it that the Mono libraries are from the ECMA
specs. Are these complete? I mean did Microsoft
_really_ submit all of their .NET environment
libraries to ECMA? Windows.Forms and ADO.NET and
ASP.NET and everything?

3. If the ECMA libraries are not complete... Is Mono
attempting to produce an environment and libraries for
Microsoft's version of .NET or just what is published
under the ECMA?

4. If Mono is trying to produce an environment
compatible to Microsoft's version of .NET not just the
ECMA specs then isn't that giving a lot of power to
Microsoft? I mean not only could Microsoft choose to
break compatibility, but they would have full control
over the data schemes and the libraries as well...
Doesn't anyone see this as a problem?

5. Obviously I have a problem contributing to the mono
compiler because I have no windows partition and it
can not compile itself yet. Could I use wine for this?
Has anyone tried?

6. Not really a question... I've been reading the
discussion over Portable.NET's compiler and Mono's. I
see reason for both. I for one would want to use
Portable.NET's compiler to compile Mono's. I do not
trust Microsoft's version of the compiler nor there
insinuations of possible licensing issues with using
Microsoft tools to build competing products.

7. I have been monitoring the dotGNU list also and
have been surprised to see quite a bit of malice
towards Mono. Some have even suggested that Mono not
be used as the runtime environment. This seems to be a
tactical error. I was under the impression that dotGNU
and Mono were to be complements of each other. Mono
supplying the runtime environment and tools and dotGNU
the authentication and web services. Can anyone
clarify the relationship between dotGNU and Mono?

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